Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Wizard of Oz redux— …and some casting questions…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
24 Aug 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Wizard of Oz redux—  …and some casting questions…

                                                                                                                     Wizard of Oz redux—

                                                                                                            …and some casting questions…

Suppose Hollywood hits you up
‘bout this big budget redo of
The Wizard of Oz? What if they
say it’s all your call…’cept this?

They say you must shoot in Uvalde
using locals. No big name stars. Do you say
“OK” when they say, “And you must cast the
Cops?” Or, do you ask—“What as?”

Angry Apple Tree? Crows in the Corn
Field? Ozmites? Tin Polishers? Horse
of Another Color? Almira Gulch’s bi
cycle?

Lullaby League? Lollipop Guild? Scare
crow? Sleepyheads? Munchkin Fiddlers?
Munchkin Soldiers? Munchkin Barristers?
Munchkin Mayor? Munchkin Coroner?

Hunk? Uncle Henry? Hickory? Toto?
Dorthy Gale? Aunt Em? Almira Gulch?
Professor Marvel? Tin Man? Glinda?
Wizard? Wicked Witch? Ruby Slippers?

Winged Monkeys instructed: “Take your Army
to the Haunted Forest and bring me those boys
and girls! Do what you want with the others—
They'll give you no trouble I promise you that?”

Winkies chanting, “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!” into
radios in the school hallway? Hearing, “Poppies,
poppies, poppies” instead of some shooter’s
Pop-pop-pop-pops for some 70 minutes?

Are we leaving any characters out?

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe and PayPal.

Uvalde

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Mumia: Everybody is Getting a Taste of Lockdown
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Mumia: Everybody is Getting a Taste of Lockdown
    18 May 2020
    The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, says all of Pennsylania’s incarcerated population has been on 23 hour, 15 minute daily lockdown since the beginnin
  • Is Genetic Testing a Tool for Reparations?
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Is Genetic Testing a Tool for Reparations?
    18 May 2020
    The science of genetics “can be useful for showing continuity, that the people who were harmed are, indeed, ancestors of those who are living today,” said Dr.
  • Rural Blacks and Browns at High Risk
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Rural Blacks and Browns at High Risk
    18 May 2020
    “In the last decade more than 125 rural hospitals have closed,” said Dr Carrie Henning-Smith, of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and co-author of a st
  • Pandemic Has Shaken Global Capitalism to Its Core
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Pandemic Has Shaken Global Capitalism to Its Core
    18 May 2020
    Black America’s most prolific political author, Dr Gerald Horne, notes that the bubonic plague “set the stage for the erosion of feudalism in 14th century Europe,” l
  • Leftists Jump the Corporate Democratic Ship, Leaving Sanders Behind
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Leftists Jump the Corporate Democratic Ship, Leaving Sanders Behind
    14 May 2020
    History may record that the corporate duopoly dike was finally broken in the Time of Plague, with the defection of Bernie’s former sheep from the Democratic Party. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us